Karua slams Gikomba demolitions, demands answers over overnight evictions
By Mustafa Juma, March 31, 2026People’s Liberation Party (PLP) leader Martha Karua has sharply criticised the overnight demolition of stalls at Nairobi’s Gikomba Market, terming the exercise unjust and lacking due process.
Shoe traders at the country’s largest open-air market woke up to find their businesses reduced to rubble, with many claiming they had received no prior notice or consultation from authorities.
The demolitions are reportedly linked to the enforcement of riparian land regulations.
Taking to her official X account on Tuesday, March 31, 2026, Karua questioned whether the application of the 60-metre riparian rule is being selectively enforced against informal traders while other developments remain untouched.
“Gikomba traders woke up to find their stalls demolished overnight, with no adequate notice or consultation. Does the sixty-metre riparian rule only apply to Gikomba and informal settlements?” she posed, raising concerns over fairness and equality before the law.
She further challenged authorities to explain how the structures were allowed to exist for decades if they were indeed illegal.
“If these structures stood for years, who issued the permits?” she asked.
Lack of alternative arrangements
Karua further criticised the lack of alternative arrangements, saying the system had failed the very people it was supposed to regulate.
“The system allowed them to be there and never built an alternative before demolishing what they had,” she said.
Many affected traders now face uncertainty, with some calling for compensation and others urging the government to provide designated trading spaces.
Karua framed the issue as not just a legal matter but a humanitarian one, calling for dignity, fairness, and protection for those affected.
“The question now is not just what went wrong, but where do we go from here, and how do we ensure dignity, fairness, and protection for those affected?” she said.
Gachagua and Kalonzo condemn the demolitions
The demolitions have sparked widespread debate, with critics accusing authorities of targeting vulnerable groups while failing to address broader urban planning challenges.
Former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua and Wiper Patriotic Front leader Kalonzo Musyoka are some of the leaders who have condemned the late-night demolitions.
Gachagua has termed the operation inhumane, brutal, and a direct attack on small-scale traders.
Speaking during a presser on Tuesday, March 31, 2026, in Makueni, Gachagua accused the government of orchestrating the demolitions at night, arguing that such actions amount to persecution of ordinary Kenyans struggling to make a living.
He claimed that thousands of traders lost goods worth millions of shillings during what he described as a cowardly night raid.
“It is totally unfair for a government to treat its people like we witnessed last night at Gikomba Market, Nairobi. I condemn this inhuman and beastly treatment in the strongest terms possible,” Gachagua said.
“Thousands of Traders, and other small-scale traders, have had their properties and items worth millions of Shillings destroyed in a night of a cowardly government raid for what covertly is a political scheme.”
Kalonzo has also condemned the situation that led to a number of traders being displaced.
“At 4 AM, the Ruto regime bulldozed Gikomba Market under the cover of darkness. No warning. No dignity. Just rubble. Traders woke up to nothing: livelihoods, stock, and futures, gone. A government that destroys its own people does not deserve to serve them. It must go,” Kalonzo said.